TORONTO -- In a season where little has gone according to plan, its perhaps no surprise that the Toronto Blue Jays have found some unlikely heroes. Its too early to put Todd Redmond alongside Munenori Kawasaki, but the right-hander earned some new fans Sunday in Torontos 11-5 win over the Minnesota Twins. With the Jays needing to fill a hole in their starting rotation, the 28-year-old from St. Petersburg, Fla., did not give up a hit until one out in the fifth when Aaron Hicks, batting eighth in the Twins lineup, homered over the right-field fence with one on to tie the score at 2-2. Redmond struck out four and walked three in five innings, with the Toronto offence striking back for four runs in the bottom of the fifth to give him a 6-2 lead. "Its still a dream come true just to be here," said Redmond. "Youve just got to take it one day at a time, one start at a time. And hopefully continue on." Colby Rasmus, Jose Reyes and Rajai Davis homered for Toronto, which outhit Minnesota 13-5 before 43,795 under a stuffy dome at Rogers Centre. Redmond, earning his first career win in his second major league start, has probably earned another start for the Jays (43-45). His debut win -- in his fifth career appearance -- came after a 74-62 record in the minors that dates back to 2005. It was a welcome shutdown performance after the first six games of a homestand had seen the Toronto starters post a 6.06 earned-run average. "The ball was jumping out of his hand," Twins first baseman Joe Mauer said of Redmond. "It was a tough day for us offensively." Redmond was 3-1 with a 5.06 ERA in six appearances for the triple-A Buffalo Bison before being called up by Toronto, which claimed him off waivers in March. His only previous major league start was last year for Cincinnati. The Jays and Twins traded shutouts and victories in the first two games of the series with Toronto taking the opener 4-0 and Minnesota (37-48) winning the second game 6-0. "If were going to win, weve got to score runs. Thats no secret," said Blue Jays manager John Gibbons. "But you go through those stretches, whether its an individual or as a team, where hits are hard to come by, things like that. Thats when youve really got to have the good pitching. But we broke loose today." Toronto sent nine men to the plate in the fifth, scoring four runs on a pair of homers to jump into a 6-2 lead. There was another four-run outburst by the home side in the seventh. "It was a game we had to have, to be honest with you," said Gibbons. "We kind of approached it that way. The bullpen was pretty rested. And with a day off (Monday), we were either going to pitch good or turn it over to the bullpen. And he (Redmond) stepped up for us. "And we swung the bats ... Runs were hard to come by (in recent games) but we swung it today." Sundays loss was the Twins seventh in eight games. The Jays, who came into the game having won just four of their last 13 after reeling off 11 straight wins, have now won 10 of their last 13 against Minnesota. Redmond (1-1), who has also made three appearances out of the Jays bullpen this season, became Torontos 13th starter this season. He now has the same number of wins this season as Josh Johnson, who is making US$13.75 million. Minnesota had a man on third with no outs in the first inning thanks to a leadoff walk, stolen base and throwing error, but a strikeout and two popouts spared the Jays any damage. "The key was getting out of that first inning without giving up a run," said Gibbons. Said Redmond: "After the first inning, I wasnt really sure what I had but I was able to get the ball down, stay on top of the ball and keep my off-speed stuff for strikes." After walking the first batter he faced and having some trouble throwing strikes (only six of his first 16 pitches found the plate), Redmond regrouped to retire the next 11 before issuing a walk to Morneau, a native of New Westminster, B.C., in the fourth. A third walk cost him in the fifth, putting Clete Thomas on ahead of Hicks home run. Redmond was followed by Aaron Loup, Dustin McGowan, Brett Cecil, Neil Wagner and Casey Janssen. Rasmus, who came into the game leading all AL centre-fielders in home runs with 15, knocked in two runs with another blast to give Toronto a 2-0 lead in the fourth. Reyes put Toronto ahead 3-2 with a leadoff homer in the fifth, his fourth home run of the season. Davis then hammered a ball into the second deck in left field, driving in Edwin Encarnacion and Mark DeRosa, who had walked and singled, respectively. Davis said the offence was contagious. "Im watching Reyes jog around the bases. He looked like he was having fun," said Davis. "I wanted to have fun too." That chased the Twins starter Scott Diamond. The 26-year-old left-hander from Guelph, Ont., lasted 4 2-3 innings in his 50th career major league appearance and start. "Its fun to return home, its fun to play in front of a crowd that knows youre Canadian and is kind of hostile to you at the same time," he said. "It kind of makes for a fun atmosphere, makes for a fun challenge. Sadly, I didnt answer up to it today." Diamond (5-8) gave up six earned runs on eight hits, walking four and striking out one. "He kind of unravelled from there," Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said of Diamond after Reyes homer. "He just couldnt make a pitch after the home run. Maybe he kind of let that home run leading off the bottom of the fifth get to him. "They made us pay today, the put some really nice swings out there. They had some great at bats." Minnesotas Trevor Plouffe also homered, off Cecil, in the eighth. Toronto catcher J.P. Arencibia, on his bobblehead day, went 1-for-3 with a walk, single and throwing error. He flied out to the warning track in the second and seventh and hit another long ball just foul in the fourth. Sundays game wrapped up a seven-game (3-4) homestand for the Jays, who open a series Tuesday in Cleveland. Cheap New York Jets Jerseys .Y. -- Paul Byron and Matt Stajan scored as the Calgary Flames started a five-game road trip with a 2-1 overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon. Cheap Jets Jerseyshttp://www.cheapjetsjerseyselite.com/?tag=cheap-robby-anderson-jersey . Badenhop was 2-3 with a 3.47 ERA in 63 relief appearances for Milwaukee this season. He is 18-20 in his career with three saves and a 3. Cheap Jets Jerseys China . Each of Houstons starters scored in double figures as the Rockets improved to 2-0 against the Spurs this season, with both victories coming on the road. They also moved within 3 1/2 games of San Antonio (22-7) for the lead the Southwest Division. Cheap Leonard Williams Jersey . -- Josh Sterk scored once and set up two more as the Oshawa Generals edged the visiting Belleville Bulls 3-2 on Friday in Ontario Hockey League action. With the start of the new tennis season less than a month away, Sania Mirza is untroubled at the prospect of losing her No. 1 individual doubles ranking. Mirza, who has held the top spot since April 2015, is part of a grouping of five players who are within 300 ranking points of the top spot on the WTA computer at the moment.Having won tournaments in Brisbane, Sydney and the Australian Open in Melbourne at the start of 2016, she will be defending those points as the 2017 season begins. Any of the chasing pack -- which includes Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic of France, former partner Martina Hingis and American Bethanie Mattek-Sands -- can displace Mirza over the coming weeks.Nobody remains No. 1 forever, Mirza told ESPN. Even if I lose the ranking, it does not mean that I cannot come back. As tennis players thats what we are playing for. Win the big titles, play for No.1. Most likely even if I win everything, I still may lose the ranking but I have a good chance of coming back.People take it a bit for granted because I have been No. 1 for 87 weeks. But I work harder than when I was not No. 1. Believe it or not that is just how it works. Getting there is a bit easier than staying there and I am very proud of myself for having achieved that and stayed there as long as I have and I will try and hold on to it -- and if I cant, I will try and get back to it. Just because I have been No. 1 doesnt mean the field has been easy. There [have] always been people challenging.Mirza started 2016 in the midst of a red-hot streak with Hingis. Having clinched the Wimbledon and US Open titles besides the year -ending WTA finals in 2015, the pair won their first four tournaments of the year and constructed a 41-match unbeaten streak. However, a mid-season slump forced them to reconsider the partnership and they made the decision to part ways ahead of the US Open.Mirza has since rediscovered her verve with Czech player Barbora Strycova, winning titles in Cincinnati and Tokyo and entering the final in Wuuhan.dddddddddddd Mirza will open her season in Brisbane with Mattek-Sands but will resume her partnership with Strycova at the next tournament in Sydney and then at the Australian Open.I have been No. 1 in the world for almost two years now, it has been an amazing journey, she said. I will try to do everything I can to try and win every tournament I play. Whether I can is always different. I am looking forward to playing, competing and hopefully replicating that success. If not, even coming close would be good.Although she is likely to continue her partnership with Croat Ivan Dodig in Australia, Mirza is keeping the door open on combining forces with fellow Indian pro Rohan Bopanna as a mixed doubles pairing. Dodig and Mirza reached the final at the French Open last year and the semi-finals at the Australian Open but were knocked out early at Wimbledon and the US Open.Bopanna and Mirza came within touching distance of clinching a medal at the Rio Olympics earlier in the year and have combined well over the last three weeks at the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL). Mirza says despite the challenges the league has faced this year she has relished the experience at the end of a long season on the circuit.You will hear many tennis players say it is so great to be part of a team, the atmosphere is so different, she said. On the team you are playing for everybody sitting on the bench. I love the format. We have had three great years and the format itself is a lot of fun. It is very competitive. Nobody wants to lose and everybody is giving their heart out to win even though it is at the end of the season.No athlete in the world wants to lose no matter what they are playing. I want to win even when I am playing gotis (laughs). On paper it is an exhibition but if you ask every single person here they are fighting their heart out every time they step on the court. Cheap NFL JerseysWholesale JerseysWholesale NFL JerseysJerseys From ChinaWholesale NFL JerseysCheap NFL JerseysCheap Jerseys ' ' '

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